Knitting Lessons
by NinthFeather
Summary: Tieria does not like to feel useless and tends to take things literally. Somehow, this results in his recieving knitting lessons from Feldt Grace. TieriaFeldt pairing with a somewhat cracky premise.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Knitting Lessons: Part I

Author: NinthFeather  
Rating: G

Characters: Tieria Erde, Feldt Grace, Sumeragi Lee Noriega

Pairings: rather light TieriaFeldt  
Summary: Tieria does not like to feel useless and tends to take things literally. Somehow, this results in his recieving knitting lessons from Feldt Grace.

WARNINGS: Crack, or at least a really weird, unlikely premise. And knitting. Hey, you never know what will offend people…  
Disclaimer: Unless having a plushie replica of Exia counts, I do not own.  
AN – This fic takes Sophie3's "Mission: Team Building" as canon, so please read that fic first. I wrote this as a result of my newfound obsession with knitting (my penname here is my screen name on ravelry), the fact that Tieria has a sweater, and the idea that the only first-season het pairing for Tieria with a prayer of happening would be TieriaFeldt, all of which combined into the related idea that a TieriaFeldt fic with knitting would go beyond cute. I apologize for the implausible nature of this whole scenario. Thanks to StormyMonday for beta-reading!

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Knitting Lessons: Part I

Since his arrival at Celestial Being, TieriaErde had been called many things. "Jerk" seemed to be the most frequent, though it was usually only muttered and he often got the feeling that he wasn't meant to have heard it, with "weird" coming in at a close second.

One thing, however, he had not been called was "useful". That was rather displeasing, since he'd expected to be the individual aboard Ptolemy most essential to Veda's plans. As it turned out, however, he was not. Far from it, in fact. While it was true that he had greater access to Veda than anyone, it was also true that much of the information restricted to him alone would not become relevant for months or years, and a good portion was, in fact, utterly useless. He was also a Gundam Meister, one of only four in the world who were selected to serve in that capacity. But until Celestial Being actually commenced their armed interventions, that fact had no consequence.

And while it was true that Tieria was easily many times as smart as everyone else aboard the Ptolemy, he was somewhat lacking practical skills. More accurately, he didn't have any, other than the computer skills and Gundam-piloting abilities which were currently unproductive. This was a situation that had to be remedied. Someone of his intelligence was wasted sifting through reams of useless data that had been needlessly uploaded to Veda and occasionally checking up on the production schedules of the Gundams. He needed another task, something truly useful.

Unfortunately, there were no such tasks left. Every position on Ptolemy was filled, its occupant selected by Veda, so Tieria could hardly complain or ask that he be allowed replace them. Besides, in a few months he _would_ have a task, one vital to Celestial Being's mission. He couldn't lose sight of that. But until the scheduled date of the first armed intervention, he could do nothing but wait. Until then, he was useless to Veda and to the rest of Ptolemy as well.

This caused an odd, hot, uncomfortable feeling to well up in his stomach. He didn't know what it was, but it seemed suspiciously like one of the ridiculous emotions his crewmates put so much stock in. So, he tried to quash it, but it seemed that it was not so easily dismissed.

Finally, Ms. Sumeragi put a name to it for him.

"What's bothering you, Tieria?" she asked him one day while they were both in the cafeteria. "You look frustrated."

_Frustrated? _Tieria thought. It seemed the sort of rough, jagged-edged word that fit with the way he felt. But he wasn't about to admit that to Ms. Sumeragi.

"I am simply…at loose ends," Tieria said stiffly. "Until my duties as a Meister commence, I have little to occupy my time."

"What's wrong with that?" Ms. Sumeragi asked. "Enjoy your free time while you have it! Geez, you're so serious…"

"And you are not serious enough," Tieria snapped.

"Do you even know how to relax?" Ms. Sumeragi asked. She paused, then sighed. "Of course you don't. Kids these days…"

"I'm not a kid," Tieria snapped.

"'Course you aren't," Ms. Sumeragi said patronizingly, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

Tieria glared at her, and her hand drew back.

"So you have some time to kill," she said. "Big deal. Find a hobby or something."

"A hobby?" Tieria asked. The word was unfamiliar.

"Something you do in your free time, for fun," Ms. Sumeragi explained.

"Fun is unproductive," Tieria stated flatly.

"Well, then, find something useful to do as a hobby," Ms. Sumeragi huffed. "Learn to cook or make pottery…or…or knit, or something!"

"What is 'knit'?" Tieria asked.

Ms. Sumeragi looked at him, surprised. "Uh, it's making clothes and things like that out of yarn. You use needles or something, I think. Feldt used to do it."

"It is a method of creating clothing?" Tieria asked.

Ms. Sumeragi nodded.

"You stated previously that the amount of casual clothing I possess is insufficient," Tieria started. "Is that true?"

"Of course," Ms. Sumeragi said. "You've got one outfit beside your flight suit. That's not nearly enough."

Tieria was starting to have an idea. If what Ms. Sumeragi said was true, and the amount of clothing he possessed was in fact inadequate, then a productive use of his time would be increasing said amount of clothing.

"I want to learn to knit," Tieria said. "Please ask Feldt Grace to teach me."

"Uh, shouldn't you do that?" Ms. Sumeragi asked.

"She is still upset with me," Tieria said.

"You called her stupid again, didn't you?" Ms. Sumeragi asked.

Tieria maintained a judicious silence.

"All right," Ms. Sumeragi said, though she was looking at him oddly. "I'll ask her."

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About a day later, Feldt approached him in the hallway.

Tieria took a moment to study the girl. She was one of the youngest members of Celestial Being, only a teenager. Tieria's first introduction to that peculiar species had been Christina Sierra, but she and Feldt were as different as they could possibly be—Christina was a blur of color, enthusiasm and annoyance, while Feldt was serious, and quiet enough to fade into the background much of the time. Though Tieria was still largely unacquainted with the typical human idea of beauty, he supposed Feldt most likely possessed it—the contrast between her pink hair and green eyes was not entirely unappealing.

"Is this your idea of a joke?" she asked, frowning at him.

Tieria blinked. "I do not understand."

"I know you don't like me," Feldt said. "But if you're just trying to embarrass me by asking me to teach you how to knit, it's not going to work. My mom taught me how to knit. It's not something I'm ashamed of."

"You believe that this is to embarrass you?" Tieria asked, starting to get annoyed. If she didn't want to help him, she could say "no" without making something _emotional_ out of it. "I am simply attempting to increase the amount of casual clothing I possess."

Feldt stared at him for a second, then, suddenly, giggled. Tieria had never heard her do so before; it was a surprisingly pleasant sound, he noted rather absently.

"You're serious!" she exclaimed.

"If I were not, I would not have asked," Tieria stated. "I fail to see what is so amusing about this."

Feldt giggled once more, then took a deep breath. "Tieria, most people who knit are girls. Actually, most of them are old women. For a man to want to learn…it's pretty unusual."

"Ah," Tieria said. "Does that mean you won't teach me?"

Feldt shook her head. "No, of course not. If you're serious about learning, I'll teach you."

Silence fell for a few seconds.

"You should say thank you!" Feldt blurted out, rather suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Tieria asked.

"You should say 'thank you' when someone offers to do something nice for you," Feldt explained.

"I see no need to thank you," Tieria said stiffly. "You are simply contributing as a member of Celestial Being to the overall effectiveness of our plans."

"How am I doing that?" Feldt asked, confused.

Tieria rolled his eyes. Was _everyone_ on this ship an idiot? "According to Ms. Sumeragi, the amount of casual clothing I possess is insufficient. In order to remedy this, I have chosen to learn how to manufacture more."

Feldt was staring at him again. Why did she keep doing that?

Finally, she sighed. "Where do you want to have the lesson?"

"I do not particularly care, as long as I will be receiving instruction," Tieria said.

"My room," Feldt said at length. "Come to my room, tomorrow, at fifteen-hundred hours."

"All right," Tieria said, nodding. "This is…appreciated," he added as an afterthought. After all, he supposed she did deserve some thanks for her willingness to help.

Feldt's eyes widened slightly, and then, a smile appeared on her face. Tieria was surprised to find that this pleased him. Usually, he preferred it when those around him were not smiling—Lockon's smiles promised teasing and unwanted attempts at creating a friendship, while Sumeragi's usually meant that she'd been drinking and Christina's were a sign that she was about to launch into a monologue about clothes shopping. But Feldt's smile didn't seem to promise anything like that. It was just a smile. But he'd put it there.

He had no idea why that thought pleased him so much.

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A/N: Please forgive the crackiness of my premise. Oh, and review. Yeah, reviews would be nice.


	2. Chapter 2

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Title: Knitting Lessons: Part II

Author: NinthFeather  
Rating: G

Characters: Feldt Grace, Tieria Erde

Pairings: rather light TieriaFeldt  
Summary: Tieria's knitting lessons start, the Ptolemaios gains an unlikely secret Santa and Feldt decides she might not hate Tieria after all.

WARNINGS: Crack, or at least a really weird premise. And knitting. Hey, you never know what will offend people…in particular, the mentions of purling and cable-knitting may be too much for the faint of heart…(hee hee).  
Disclaimer: Unless having a plushie replica of Exia counts, I do not own.  
AN – This is a result of my newfound obsession with knitting (my penname here is my screen name on ravelry), the fact that Tieria has a sweater, and the idea that the only first-season het pairing for Tieria with a prayer of happening would be TieriaFeldt, all of which combined into the related idea that a TieriaFeldt fic with knitting would go beyond cute. I apologize for the implausible nature of this whole scenario. And it's only gotten less plausible. Thanks to StormyMonday for beta-reading!

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Sure enough, at fifteen-hundred hours exactly, Tieria swept into Feldt's room, startling her. She'd been holding a number of skeins of yarn, and, when she dropped them in surprise, they went rolling across the floor.

"Ah! Tieria, please knock first!" she squeaked, scrambling to pick up the fallen yarn.

When she'd gathered all the yarn, she put it down on her bed, then sat down next to it.

Tieria stood, uncertain, next to the door.

"Sit down," Feldt urged him.

Tieria sat down, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Feldt supposed her room, which she shared with Christina, was a bit different than what he was used to. She had a few nature pictures taped to her wall, while Christina's side of the room was covered with images of movie stars and pop artists. She imagined Tieria's room to be substantially more plain. If there were anything on the walls, they were likely schedules, charts, and data readouts. The thought made her a little sad.

She gave in to the sudden urge to smile at him, then picked up a bag she had laying near her bunk. After digging through it for a few seconds, she presented Tieria with a pair of aluminum knitting needles.

"What are these?" Tieria asked, staring at them. "They look like weapons of some sort."

"They're knitting needles," Feldt explained

"Ah," Tieria said. "How do they work?"

Feldt got out another pair of needles, these ones wooden, as well as two skeins of grey yarn. "Let me show you," she said, handing him one of the skeins.

He took it, and nodded.

"First, you have to make a slipknot," she said. She pulled a few inches of yarn from the skein, wrapped it around two of her fingers, and then pulled the end of the yarn that was closer to the skein through the center of the loop. "Like that."

Tieria copied her motions, then held up a length of yarn with a small slipknot on it. "Is this right?"

Felt nodded. "Now put it on the needle."

Tieria nodded, and slipped the knot over one of his needles.

"Okay," she said. "Now, I'm going to show you how to cast on…"

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A half-hour later, Tieria had mastered casting on, but was having trouble with the actual knitting. No matter what he tried, his stitches did not look like Feldt's.

"This is ridiculous," he fumed. "I can pilot a Gundam, so why can't I get a little piece of yarn to do what I want?"

Feldt moved closer to him. "It takes practice, that's all," she said. "Show me how you're doing it and I'll tell you what you're doing wrong."

Tieria nodded, inserting his right needle into the loop around the left one, then wrapping the yarn around the right needle and passing it through the loop.

"You're wrapping it the wrong way," Feldt said. "You have to wrap the yarn around the right needle from right to left. You're wrapping it from left to right."

Tieria let out a huff of frustration, then took Feldt's advice.

He stared at the slightly lopsided knit stitch he'd created. "It worked!"

"Okay, try doing that a few more times," Feldt said. After a few minutes, she nodded. "That's good. Now, we'll move on to purling."

"Purling?" Tieria asked nervously.

Feldt nodded. "Don't worry. It's just like a knit stitch, only upside-down and backwards!"

Tieria stared at her, horrified.

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By dinnertime, Tieria could knit and purl, and he had even started making progress on increasing and decreasing.

"You really are smart," Feldt said.

"Of course," Tieria said, a bit haughtily. "I'm a Gundam Meister."

Feldt, less intimidated by the red-eyed Meister than she had been before she'd seen him cursing at a length of yarn, just ignored him. "With a few more lessons, I think you'll be able to actually make something."

"Like a sweater?" Tieria said, somewhat hopefully.

"Sweaters are pretty difficult," Feldt cautioned. "Maybe you should start with a scarf."

Tieria nodded, rather reluctantly, then turned to leave.

"Before you go," Feldt said, "there's something I should tell you. Knitting…well, it's more of a girl thing. If you tell Lockon about it, he'll probably laugh at you."

"Why would he do that?" Tieria asked. "It is a useful skill."

"Not everyone is as practical as you, Tieria," Feldt said.

"I do not understand humans," Tieria stated.

"No one does, really," Feldt said. "But it doesn't hurt to try and get along with them sometimes."

"Why should I do that?" Tieria asked.

Later, Feldt would imagine that she'd said, "It would increase operating efficiency," and Tieria had embraced the idea and created a unified team of Gundam Meisters.

Instead, she just stammered, "Uh, that is…because it's the right thing to do."

Tieria had huffed his dismissal of the idea and left.

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They spent the next lesson just practicing the knit and purl stitches.

"This is oddly relaxing," Tieria said.

Feldt hummed her agreement.

The sound of two pairs of needles—one pair wood, the other aluminum—clicking against each other filled the air, the only sound for what seemed like hours.

"I…think I like knitting," Tiera said. "It's very…orderly."

Feldt smiled. "It's nice to be able to make something, isn't it? Especially when Celestial Being's plans involve so much destruction."

"Are you questioning—" Tieria began the familiar question sharply.

"I'm not!" Feldt interjected. "But I think the plans will be difficult to carry out. We'll have to work hard and do things we might not want to do. I think it's good for you to have a way to relax."

"Like knitting?"Tieria asked.

"Like knitting," Feldt confirmed. "You know, having something to do with my hands really helped after my parents—"

"You're not supposed to share personal information," Tieria cautioned.

"Right," Feldt said quietly, staring down at the knitted square that was now large enough to cover her lap.

Once again, needles became the only sound.

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Three lessons later, Tieria had a scarf. It was ribbed, and made of smoky-grey Merino wool.

"It doesn't really go with your sweater," Feldt stated.

Tieria sighed in relief and took it off. "I don't understand why people wear them. I don't like having something wrapped around my neck."

Feldt smiled. Tieria acted just a bit more human during their knitting lessons. Not much more, of course, but he expressed preferences and opinions during them that she never heard him talking to anyone else about. Admittedly, no one else on Ptolemy had any reason to ask him about his preferred colors or such things, but still…

"What should I do with it?" Tieria asked her.

"I'm not sure," Feldt said. "I don't want it either; I have too many winter clothes already."

"It wouldn't suit you, anyhow," Tieria said. "It's much too dark."

Feldt glanced at him in surprise. She hadn't known that he noticed her appearance.

"You know who it would look good on…" Feldt started. "Ms. Sumeragi."

"Could I…give it to her, then?" Tieria asked. "It seems wasteful to have a usable scarf that no one is wearing."

"I'm sure she'd appreciate it," Feldt said. "You probably shouldn't tell her it was from you, though. She'll tell everyone about it as soon as she starts drinking."

"Which will probably be tomorrow morning if I give it to her tonight," Tieria sighed. "I have to trust that Veda knew what it was doing when it selected her as our tactical forecaster."

And so, Tieria's first knitting project was left outside of Sumeragi's room for her to find the next morning. No matter how many people she asked, she couldn't figure out who had given it to her, but she wore it anyway.

No one but Feldt noticed that Tieria was just a bit more laid-back that day.

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Feldt dutifully suppressed the smile that tried to bloom on her lips when she saw Ms. Sumeragi float onto the bridge with the grey scarf wound around her neck.

"Nice scarf, Ms. Sumeragi!" Christina exclaimed. "Where'd you get it?"

"Someone left it outside of my room," Sumeragi said.

"Is that safe?" Lichty asked worriedly. "Shouldn't you have tried to find out where it came from before you wore it?"

"It's a scarf, Lichty, how dangerous could it be?" Christina asked.

"Well, I mean, it could have contact poison on it, or—"

"Who puts _poison_ on a _scarf_?"

"Maybe if they were trying to kill her without being noticed…"

"That's enough, you two," Ms. Sumeragi said evenly. "Everyone on Ptolemaios went through an extensive background check done by Veda. I think it's safe enough to accept an anonymous gift." Her voice dropped in volume. "Especially when it's so soft…"

Lichty just shook his head and turned back to the instrument panel in front of him.

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Over the next few weeks, Feldt taught Tieria as much as she could, while Tieria churned out a steady stream of knitted items, few of which he actually had any use for. And so, a midnight-blue wool watchcap was left outside of Lichty's room, a lacy, goldenrod wool-acrylic mix belt was placed on Christina's pillow, a chunky black Merino wool cowl ended up outside Ian's room…the list went on. By the time Tieria was actually ready to knit a sweater, he'd exhausted Feldt's yarn reserves, forcing them both to tag along on one of Christina's mall trips just to get to a craft store. In the process of learning to knit, he'd anonymously gifted just about everyone on Ptolemy with something he'd made. Even Lockon, the only other Meister who'd arrived so far, had gotten a pair of thick, green angora-wool mix mittens, one knitted by Tieria and the other by Feldt.

One day, while Tieria was shaping the shoulder seams of his sweater—the same baby-pink as the one Feldt had knitted, but made of a lighter yarn so it could be worn even in warm weather—Feldt told him this was their last lesson.

"I've taught you as much as I know," she said. "And the other Meisters will be arriving soon. We won't have as much free time. I don't think we'll be able to meet up like this much longer."

Tieria nodded, then got up. "Thank you very much, Feldt Grace, for being my teacher."

"You were a good student," Feldt said with a smile. "I hope you'll keep practicing."

"I will," Tieria said, almost solemnly.

She couldn't help feeling a bit lonely, though, when he walked out of her door, probably for the last time.

The sweater that showed up outside her room a week or so later made her feel a bit better. It was made of lightweight Merino wool, just loose enough to fit over and cover up the ridiculous, immodest outfits Christina was always forcing her into. Tieria had used two colors—the exact shades of her hair and eyes. It was probably the best thank-you gift she'd ever gotten.

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End file.
